In the summer of 1998 Ted found himself staying all night
at his office, photocopying 500 mini-comic samples of a project
he and writer Serena Valentino had decided to call Gloomcookie,
a series of related short stories about the goth community.
Two days later they were handing out copies at San Diego Comic-Con
International. Dan Vado of Slave Labor Graphics took an interest,
and in a few months it was on the shelves. Response was immediate
and enormous. The series was easily the most popular comic
Ted had ever worked on, a success made even sweeter by the
fact that it was his first creator-owned property.
However, as any independent comics creator knows, it's very
nearly impossible to produce a full length comic and hold
down a full time job at the same time, and illustrating Gloomcookie
couldn't support Ted financially. He had decided that co-producing
an independent comic wasn't financially viable, but doing
one on his own might be a possibility. In any event, his experience
on Gloomcookie gave him the writing bug, so he quit both the
games industry and Gloomcookie with the goal of creating his
own comics project.
Ted began putting together new series pitches from concepts
he'd daydreamed about during the daily commutes between San
Francisco and Silicon Valley. His most fruitful idea to date
came shortly after his departure from the videogame industry,
during a sleepless night spent pondering the creatures that
inhabit the shadows and watch us while we sleep. Over the
next few months, Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things began
to take shape. Oni Press liked the concept right away and
convinced Ted to publish through them.
Unlike Gloomcookie, Courtney Crumrin was a slow build toward
success. Only after the second four-issue series (Courtney
Crumrin and the Coven of Mystics) was launched did it begin
to draw significant fan attention. More people took notice,
and not just comics collectors. Alternative culture retailer
Hot Topic began carrying the book, as did Waldenbooks and
Borders. The bookstores felt that Courtney Crumrin had potential
to sell to the huge new market of manga readers. Soon the
movie studios began calling. In the summer of 2003 the first
four-issue arc was was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best
Limited Series, losing out to Alan Moore's wildly popular
sequal to League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. |
